In Season: TiVo Rates Hot Shows

With rating measurements more dependent than ever on DVR playback, TiVo, the big DVR maker, has weighed in with its first insight of the new shows this season.

TiVo notes that only two shows--ABC's "Private Practice" and NBC's "Bionic Woman"--cracked its top 50 Season Pass list. "Private Practice" is the 18th-ranked most popular show put on Season Pass; "Bionic," the 43rd most DVRed season-pass show.

Season Pass lets customers record the entire season worth of shows with a push of a button on a TiVo remote control. TiVo says Season Pass shows the intent of higher value versus other programs, enabling viewers to record multiple episodes to be screened at anytime.

Still, TiVo warns this ranking doesn't predict series' ultimate survival. For example, last year at this time, NBCs "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was ranked 12th and "Heroes" was ranked 85th. So far this season, "Heroes" has jumped to sixth; "Sunset" has not returned to NBC's schedule. However, "Sunset" reruns remain on many TiVo machines. TiVo says "Sunset" was ranked in 62nd place in the new season under its Season Pass list.

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To date, the No. 1 and No. 2 most popular shows on Season Pass are "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives"--the same positions those two shows were in a year ago.

Other notable changes: "House" moved up to third from fifth place. "The Office" got into the top 10, in ninth place.

Drifting lower was "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," from third to fifth. "Survivor" and "Oprah," which were sixth and ninth, respectively, last year, haven't cracked the top 10 this year.

Although fresh episodes won't air until January, "American Idol" and "24" remain on TiVo customers' Season Pass list, in the seventh and eighth spots respectively.

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